Sole Survivor Cole
by Coleman1667
Summary: Follows the events of Fallout 4 and the protagonist, Cole. Starting two weeks after a traumatic event that has caused Cole to lose his memories, we follow him in his search for purpose in his new life, and possibly to find his memories and more.
1. Chapter 1: Ain't That a Kick in the Head

**Chapter One: Ain't That a Kick in The Head**

 _"Shaun... Bye bye? Say bye bye? Bye honey!"_

 _Every night I've had the same dream for as long as I can remember. They all start the same way, I'm running. I don't know what from, but I'm running. I go down this long elevator and people blur past me into obscurity. I can't recognize any faces but I get the feeling that I know these people. Then everything gets really cold, and the dream blacks out. Suddenly I see in the dream a figure shoot someone else, and I get more angry than I can ever remember being before, but the cold comes back and swallows me whole, and I'm screaming at the top of my lungs and bashing on a door, but it's useless, the cold always wins._

My eyes opened just as the cold blackness closes around me and I realized that I was actually warm. I ran my fingers through my hair and scratched my beard. It was getting kind of long, _I should really shave again soon_ , I thought to myself. It's so hard to find a barber out here though. I sat on the edge of my bed and thought about the last two weeks. I had woken up here in Sanctuary with a massive headache and a dislocated shoulder. The worst damage though, was that I couldn't remember a single thing. I was surrounded by two robots and a bunch of people I had never seen before. I now knew these people as Codsworth, Curie, Preston, Marcy, Jun, Sturges, and Mama Murphy. They say I had been fighting some radscorpions out by Tenpines Bluff and one of them slung me off of the cliff. Dogmeat was the only one with me other than the settlers there and he sprinted back to Sanctuary and got help to come to me. By the time they got back I was basically naked as some raiders or scavengers had stripped me of any valuables that I had minus the pipboy, and I was bleeding badly from my head.

It's been two weeks since then and I've mostly been on bedrest as per Curie's orders. Everyone has more or less left me to be since returning, all too caught up in their own business to worry about me too much. Curie has been at my side almost every waking moment however, taking blood samples, checking my vitals, getting me anything I needed, and just generally taking care of me really. She's asked me some questions and run some tests and we came to the conclusion that I've retained pretty much all of my skills and knowledge but lost my identity and anything I felt emotionally before the incident. She says it's nice that I'm talking to her so much, as I guess beforehand I just kept mostly to myself and had Dogmeat tag along wherever I went. She's really intelligent, and I guess I am too she says, which surprised us both. I also realized sadly that I don't really care to regain my lost memories. I felt fine as I was and anything that happened before me may as well have happened to someone else entirely.

I sat up on the edge of the bed and looked around my room. There were a couple bobble heads on a stand in the corner, and a few miniature robots on a bookshelf against the opposite wall. Just to the left of that was a dresser with a radio on it, and following left was the exit to my room, with the bed in the center of the room and next to the door. I got up and made my way to the dresser, picking out a "white" t shirt and a pair of jeans that held together a bit more than the other pairs. As I got dressed I knew that my plan wouldn't go over well, but I had to get out of here. This place held no memories for me at all anymore, these people didn't need me, and I have no debt that I owe anyone really other than Curie. I laced up my boots and looked at myself in the cracked mirror in the bathroom next door. The wound on my head was healed basically all the way now, and thankfully because of Curie's talents, the only scars I'll have are on my chin and lips.

I made my way out into the living room where Curie was getting a lesson from Codsworth on how poach an egg, though apparently mirelurk eggs were far from what Codsworth was used to working with so it was just a big greenish yellow soup now. Upon noticing my appearance Curie went straight into doting mother hen mode.

"Oh Monsieur Cole, you're awake! Please sit and allow me to check your vital signs before continuing further activities. According to my medical records data you should remain with bedrest and little activity for another week at least for an injury such as yours. Although I've little data on how radiation would affect such things."

I smiled a bit and sat down on the couch as Curie floated her way over to me.

"Sure Curie, you can take your vitals. I feel fine though, really. Ready to work and do whatever else I can."

"Oh non! You must remain at rest or else your injury could worsen." She said as she began taking my temperature.

"I can't do that Curie, I'm getting real stir crazy and I don't know what I'm going to do if I don't get out of here soon" I mumbled around the thermometer in my mouth.

"Well surely we can find some alternative. I know for certain however that I am not letting you out of my sight until I deem it safe. And maybe not even after that."

I chuckled and shook my head at her.

"Yeah, yeah Curie." She finished taking my vitals and put away her instruments before returning to my side.

"Monsieur Cole, you are well enough to perform basic day to day activity but I urge you to take frequent rests and know that I shall be keeping an eye on you all day" she asserted. She means well, she really does. I'll be sad to leave her the most when I get out of this place.

I stood and walked myself over to the door, turning the handle and letting the bright radiated sunlight stream through the doorway.

This was it. This was the day that I was going to move on. I only hoped they would all be okay with it. As I walked across the road to the yellowed house across the road I couldn't help but wonder what all these people had been doing in this town.

There were armor and weapons workbenches sitting in the garage portion of the house, boxes next to them filled with junk and materials for protection of all kinds. Next to that was a big dumpster looking thing that was very obviously built by hand; inside there were many different and random types of materials that under normal circumstances nobody would think about but in this day and age you made into construction materials. Sturges was sitting on a bench and cutting cans open to lay them flat, then nailing them onto wooden boards in order to form a metal wall patch for the house. Similar patches were all over every house here, and it almost looked like they were building entirely new houses down the road a ways, only the frame standing however.

Someone had taken the time to construct a giant fence around the entirety of Sanctuary Hills, with an enormous water purifier sitting in the river, and a large, several story gate along the main road. There were guard posts all along the wall and several spots where automated turrets and spotlights were guarding the perimeter as well. Also clearly visible were the large farming fields down near the river, filled with all sorts of fruits and vegetable to provide for the people living here as well as to provide a source of income if the people here ever run low on scrap and need to leave to trade for some. A power grid had also been installed and most of the houses in Sanctuary Hills were fully powered, with the old pre-war ovens, stoves, and water heaters working. It seemed like Preston and everyone else were preparing to have a lot of guests or something with how much work they've been putting in.

You would think with all of this clearly on display that it would have been like a giant neon sign for raiders and the like to come in and stomp all over the place, especially since there were only about 6 people and a couple of robots here. You're not wrong to think that, but I forgot the most impressive thing about this place. Above the water purifier in the river and all along the river bank on this side there was a massive building with holes all over the front. This was the _real_ wall in Sanctuary.

It was four stories tall, stretches the length of the river, and every single inch of it was filled with turrets and spotlights of all shapes and sizes. From simple 5.56mm machine gun turrets, to rapidly firing laser turrets, all the way to missile launching turrets on the top level. Apparently the settlement had been attacked one too many times for my liking back when I was a different person, and I spent the better part of a month travelling back and forth from the Commonwealth with as many weapons and scrap materials I could find, began building like a mad man, and that was the final product. The generators keeping everything running in that place were surrounded with concrete slabs thick enough to stop a herd of charging brahmin and tall enough that nothing less than a super mutant behemoth could get any sort of projectile in there. It was loud, bright, and garish as hell, but at the very least I hadn't heard of any living thing within a mile of this place in the two weeks that I had been here.

It scared me, honestly, a little bit to see the kind of thing I used to make with my free time. I'm sure it was for a good reason, or at least I'd like to hope, but the reality is that I just don't know. That could have been made by some magical fairy and I wouldn't know the difference at all. The most annoying part about it all however was that the turrets and spotlights had all been tied to a terminal, and I guess the paranoid person I used to be put a password on it, and surprise, surprise, I didn't know the password. Anybody new that approached this place was in for a nasty welcome party.

I stopped halfway across the road, a thought bursting to life in my mind. What was I doing? Why was I here anymore? Why had I stayed even this long? A decision formed in my mind and I turned toward the blue building next door to the yellow house. The door was locked when I tried the handle, but I shouldn't have been surprised. This was the building in which all of the food, weapons, and gear that everyone had collected had been stored. One downside to these dilapidated buildings though was that there were no windows, so I simply climbed on through and went about my business.

Twenty minutes or so later, and I made my way towards the gate of Sanctuary laden with weapons, armor, and rations for a couple of weeks, as well as a healthy stash of bottlecaps, which are apparently currency.

The leather straps I had donned fit snugly, but each was stuffed with all kinds of pockets and pouches, allowing me to carry even more than I normally would be able to. As for weapons I had decided on a simple 10mm pistol that seemed in decent shape, along with a decently sized pouch of ammunition for it, a short, bolt-action hunting rifle along with a handful of rounds, that I had grabbed mostly for the scope on top of it, and a few rounds of energy cell ammunition that I grabbed with the intention of trading if I needed to.

Just before reaching the gate I heard a commotion behind me, and turned to see Preston running towards me and yelling.

"Cole! Hey! Hold on a second!" he yelled as he approached. When he saw that I had stopped he slowed his pace to an even jog, and waited until he reached me to continue speaking again. "Hey, Cole, man, what's going on? Where are you going? You should be resting some more, you look like you're geared up to head on an expedition though. Is everything okay?"

I could see in his face that he was confused, which I guess was understandable. I also thought I saw something else, was it worry, or fear? I didn't owe him an explanation though, I was just going to say it how it was.

"I'm leaving. With all of this. And nothing you say or do is going to stop me. I'm sorry, but I just feel no connection to this place anymore and while I'm thankful for what you guys have done I need to get out of here."

Preston looked a bit taken aback by that, "So that's it then, huh? We drag you halfway across the Commonwealth, nurse you back to health, and you just steal some of our stuff and walk away? Did I get all of that right?" Preston scowled and shifted a bit, almost looking like he was reaching for his laser musket, "I don't know if I'm okay with that, yeah? We did all that to help you and you just walk all over us and leave without even saying goodbye? That's cold. Real cold. But you know what? Fine. Go ahead. It's not like we need you, we've been functioning here just fine without you helping out anyway."

Preston got an almost sad look on his face before he turned his back and started walking away. It tugged at my heartstrings a little bit, but I had made up my mind. Without a second thought I turned around and walked through the gates of Sanctuary, ready for whatever the wastes decided to throw at me.

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk Added: Lone Wanderer - Who needs friends, anyway? When adventuring without a companion, you take 15% less damage and carry weight increases by 50.


	2. Chapter 2: Anything Goes

Chapter Two: Anything Goes

"If you want to see the fate of democracies, just look out the window"

Looking out the window of the Red Rocket truck stop I could see the lights and the wall of bullets and death of Sanctuary just over the hills. Okay, so I didn't go very far, but in my defense I didn't really know many places. Sure this Pip-Boy had all sorts of locations in it, but I had no notes on which were safe, how to get to them, or anything like that. So I decided I would set up shop here at the Red Rocket. Far enough away that I could do what I wanted without anybody in Sanctuary caring too much but close enough that I could still benefit a bit from the massive presence that kept Sanctuary safe. I had made a makeshift bed out of some flags that were lying around, and made a campfire for myself, mostly for when I'd undoubtedly need it later on. Other than that I hadn't actually accomplished much other than going around and picking up and organizing all of the random junk I saw around here.

I want to go into this weird Pip-Thingie here for a second. I had no idea where I had gotten this thing, or what all it did, but I knew that I couldn't take it off, and everyone had always seen me with it. It honestly seemed almost magical, which sounded absolutely absurd, but let me explain what this thing does. Whenever I pick something up it automatically calculates the weight of it and starts sorting stuff into different pouches in my bag, and if I want something out of my bag again instead of digging I can pick what I want and it will always be on the top and ready to pull out. As if that wasn't enough, it also keeps track of everywhere I've been, my vitals, even my natural attributes like strength or luck. How it measures those I have no idea, but it seems about accurate I guess? Probably the craziest part of this thing though is the V.A.T.S, or the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System. I have no idea how it does it, but it has the ability to slow down time for me, and it tells me my exact chances of hitting something from where I am and where they are. It's the most surreal feeling in the world. It seems to have some kind of cooldown period though, because if I take a couple shots then I can't take any more for a little while. And to top it all off, whenever I'm talking to someone, if they ever asked me a favor or I said I would do something for them, it would add it as a quest? Though I guess it may be memory dependent because I didn't have any when I woke up in Sanctuary, though I had picked up a few from talking to everyone there a bit. Mostly small things really, like whenever Curie had given me therapy, it would keep track of her instructions as quest steps. Whatever. It's weird, I can't take it off, and I have no idea how it works. Other than that it's pretty handy at least. Okay, back to the story now.

By the time that I had established a sort of makeshift base of operations at the Red Rocket it was about 2 in the afternoon, and I was starting to get hungry. I had plenty of food for myself for a couple of days that I brought from Sanctuary, but I knew I would need to get more eventually, and there wasn't much better time to go find some than broad daylight. The question was though, where should I go? According to my map there were several locations around me: Concord to the southeast, a place called Abernathy Farm to the south, and a Ranger Cabin to the west of me. I looked in each direction to help make my decision. I could see a few raider bodies along the road towards concord, which meant I was NOT going that way. Looking to the southeast all I could see were hills and some dead trees, no sign of the farm, but that was okay. I had no idea if the people there were hostile or friendly, and how I would react to them either. It looked like the ranger cabin would be my best shot from here. Making sure my weapons were loaded I set out over the hills towards where there was supposedly a ranger cabin.

As I crested a hill I could see out for a couple miles, and sure enough, there was the ranger cabin. It was along the river and had a small field around it where I could see a few animals. Some I recognized immediately, because they were the only things stupid enough to get close to Sanctuary, bloatflies. I had no memory of every fighting them, but I've heard the horror stories of cleaning up the turrets after they "attacked" Sanctuary one time. Sturges said that these things shot their eggs or larvae or something at whatever they were fighting, and that when he had to clean off the turrets they were coated in the stuff. I wasn't particularly keen on seeing what effect it had on humans.

Also down in the field were something that looked kind of like the brahmin in Sanctuary, but somehow different. I pulled out hunting rifle to peer through the scope and got a better look at them. They were red and purple all over, had two heads, and were eating grass, just like the brahmin. These creatures however seemed taller and leaner, and far more skittish. You could walk up to a brahmin and slap it in the faces a few times before it even registered your presence. This thing looked a lot quicker though. I got an opportunity to see just how quick when a bloatfly got too close and the creature sprinted away and was out of sight in the blink of an eye. I would have to be careful around those things.

Sliding my pistol out of its holster I crept forward down the hill and towards the cabin. Ideally I could take down one of those animals and I would be set for food for a while. Somehow I felt that wasn't going to be likely though, and I had resigned myself to looting the cabin up ahead. As I got closer the tree cover became scarcer and I was getting anxious. I pulled up my V.A.T.S. and it told me I only had a 20% chance to hit the nearest of the creatures from where I was, not nearly worth taking the shot. But if I got any closer I would risk the creature bolting like its friend did earlier. As I was just lining up to risk a shot I saw a green, gooey mess shoot past my face in slow motion. I turned, my V.A.T.S. still active, and saw that a bloatfly had locked onto me and was firing its disgusting blobs at me rapid fire. I dropped my V.A.T.S. and sprinted back into the forest for some thicker cover, the bloatfly giving chase. I dropped down beneath the gnarled roots of a massive tree and held my breath.

I could hear the bloatfly approaching from the massive wings buzzing rapidly, and guessed it had to be no more than 20 feet away, perfect range. I spun out of my cover and brought up my V.A.T.S., 85%. It wasn't perfect but was good enough. I squeezed the trigger four times as fast as I could, cursing as the first two missed, but the second two connected blissfully. The first erupting the giant sac on the fly, and the second slicing through a wing as it went down. I had just enough time to glance toward the creature that was there before seeing it dash out of sight at a breakneck pace. I sighed.

I picked up the bullet casings from the ground beneath me, confident I could probably find some use for them, and made my way over to the bloatfly. It was disgusting, oozing all over the ground and maggots spilling out of it. I stepped gingerly over the fly and made my way slowly toward the cabin. There didn't seem to be anybody inside, but it never hurt to be careful.

As I got closer to the cabin I could see that the front porch was all but collapsed, with the door broken off of its hinges as well. I could see the back wall from my position, so at least it wasn't a huge room I'd need to search for things. Creaking my way up the rotted wooden steps I found myself at the edge of the door. I leaned around the corner and brought up my V.A.T.S. only to see that there was nothing to lock onto. What I did see however, tightened a knot in my stomach.

The room was a mess, obviously incapable of standing up to the years and the bombs that had dropped. On the left wall there was an old holotape player, as well as a flipped over and broken down table and the remains of a bed frame, but no mattress. There was some odd fungus growing off of the wall, I avoided that. Just under the fungus however there was a magazine, _Wasteland Survival Guide #8 Self-Defense Secrets._ Leafing through the pages I could see some real beneficial stuff in there. I tucked it into my bag and kept going. As I took a step I kicked a hotplate that was on the ground. It didn't look anything near functional unfortunately but I could use the bits inside for something I'm sure, I bagged that as well. Along the far right wall there was an empty dresser, and then the only thing left in the room was what my eyes had been unconsciously trying to avoid the whole time.

There was a skeleton on the mattress in the corner. Whether it had been dragged there or blown away in the blast it was impossible to tell, but it was easy to see that this girl had been young, probably not more than 16, when she died. The dress she wore was little more than tattered rags. The mattress underneath looked enticing though, and I was going to be haunted probably for what I had in mind, but a mattress would be way better than the little sleeping bag I had made. I gently nudged the skeleton off the mattress and starts sliding it towards the door, when it caught on a suitcase I hadn't noticed. Opening it up I found a dress, which I ignored, a back of bubblegum, and an old holotape. I looked at the holotape player and decided there was no way that thing was going to work. I decided to pocket the tape in case I found a working one later. As I continued dragging the mattress back to Red Rocket I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. It was a grill. And it looked in tact enough to travel and to function. This would be way more efficient than my shitty little campfire. I couldn't take that and the mattress though, there was just no way, so I'd have to make multiple trips. If I was lucky I would be able to get one of those creatures on my trip back too.

Several hours later, the sun was setting and I had moved basically anything that wasn't nailed down from the cabin, including a good load of wooden boards. I also took the time to bury the skeleton and used a couple of boards to erect a sort of marker above the grave. It was the least I could do. Reclining on my mattress and chewing on some meat I had brought from Sanctuary, I remembered the holotape I had gotten, and pulled it from my bag. I examined it closely, but could find no way to play it by itself. I went to put it back into the bag and noticed a small button on the top of my Pip-Boy. Pressing it a slot opened on the top with a click, and it looked the prefect size for the holotape. I slowly inserted the holotape, making sure it wasn't going to get stuck or something, and pushed the slot closed again. Immediately the tape began to play.

 _October 22, 2077._

 _I finally told them tonight, and it was bad. Real bad. Dad was shouting, telling me I should be ashamed, that I had to get out of the house. Mom just cried, and somehow that hurt worse than anything else. She didn't say a word, not even when I packed my things. I can't go to John- he doesn't even know yet. Maybe he'll never know. If it weren't for the cabin I wouldn't have a place to sleep. Just need some time to think. Last time I was here, I was just a little girl playing clubhouse in this old cabin. Now I'm really scared. Will anything ever be right again?_

After I listened to the tape the slot opened up. I set it in a little box next to my bed. I don't know what I had been expecting, but it wasn't that. I rolled over and closed my eyes, slipping back into the same nightmare I always had. It was slightly different this time, because the skeleton was there, running alongside me. Just before the blackness overtook me again the skeleton grabbed me and screamed an unearthly howl, forcing me deeper into the blackness to get away. I didn't sleep well that night.

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk Added: Scrapper - Waste not, want not! You can salvage uncommon components like screws, aluminum, and copper when scrapping weapons and armor.

Quest Perk Added: Wasteland Survival Guide 8 - Permanently take 5% less damage from melee attacks.


End file.
